Tag: BOOKS

Hello everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I honestly can’t believe it’s 2019… I turn 18 this year?! Anywayy I decided to combine all of my beginning-of-the-year type posts into one post because it just worked better like that so let’s begin!

Hi everyone and welcome to day 10 of A Very Posty December! Today we’ve finished off the last of the GOT7 posts and I figured it was a good time to bring back some festive spirit with a wintry book tag! Enjoy.

#1: What book is so happy and sweet it warms your heart?

Okay… but is there really another answer?

#2: What’s your favourite book with a white cover?

This book (obviously) has a predominantly white cover. It was also one of the most heart-shattering and heart-warming books I have ever read and thrives in the paradox.

Reading this book is not simply absorbing a new world, but embarking on an emotional journey in which you can be tossed around my hurricanes, spat out hundreds of miles away by tornadoes and drowned by tsunamis the size of large skyscrapers.

If you were to only read five contemporary books in your entire life, this should definitely be one of them.

#3: You’re sitting in a nice, comfortable chair with a cup of tea. What monster book are you reading?

I don’t even know anything about Sarah J. Maas’ next book, but I know that I really want to read it… and given the length of her recent books it may well be a monster book!

To be fair, I might still be a bit in denial that the Throne of Glass series has ended… I’ve been reading that for a good 4 or 5 years and it’s all over….. 😦

I wonder what she has in store for us next…

#4: It’s snowing outside and you decide to have a snowball fight. What fictional character do you want to have this snowball fight with?

Hagrid is the personification of the gentle giant… in book character form. Having a snowball fight with him would be a blast and he would definitely know where all the best spots were!

#5: Sadly, your campfire is dying. What last few chapters of a book would you throw in the fire to revive it and keep yourself warm?

There are not words to describe how much I hate this book. Forget the last few chapters, the entire thing can be sacrificed for my warmth (or at least given away so I never have to look at it again, because I don’t support book burning).

#6: What book do you love so much that you would buy another copy of it to give someone as a gift to inspire them to start reading?

To be fair, this might not be the best book for someone who is starting to get into reading, as it is written in a very lyrical way, which can slow down the pace of the story a bit. That being said, it’s an absolute masterpiece and I love it, so I decided to include it anyways!

#7: Who do you tag?

Okay, so I’m going to tag Kat, Bianca, Vicky, Fadwa and The Orang-utan Librarian, but if you want to do this tag, feel free to do so and link back to me so that I can read your post! Equally if I’ve tagged you, don’t feel that you have to do the tag!

And that’s it! Did you enjoy? Let me know by leaving a comment… I love hearing from you guys. Happy reading, Keira x.

Hello everyone and welcome to day 5 of a Very Posty December… less than three weeks until Christmas!!! I’m taking a break from GOT7 week today to bring you a bookish post about the books I want to read before the end of the year (obviously, you read the title).

Woman at Point Zero

Perfume

Selected Poems

Woman at Point Zero is the book I need to finish by tomorrow for school, so yes, I hope that I have finished this one by the end of the year 😀 It tells the story of a woman sentenced to die during the space of a night.

Perfume is a book I have been reading for quite some time and I hate having unfinished books when a new year starts, so hopefully I can finish this one when I finally have some time off of school! It’s about a boy with a wicked sense of smell.

Selected Poems is a selection of poems by T.S. Eliot, including The Wasteland, which I had to read for school. As such I have partially read this book, but I want to finish reading the other poems before the end of the year.

A Discovery of Witches

Shadow of Night

The Book of Life

On a slightly lighter note, I’m in the middle of reading Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy, so I would like to finish that before the end of the year as well. I’m currently part way through the second book. The series follows a woman, Diana, who is a witch, but has been suppressing her powers, and her forbidden romance with the vampire Matthew.

So what books do you want to read before the end of the year? Happy reading, Keira x.

Sometimes I have some reviews to post but they’re not quite long enough to warrant a single post, so I collate them into mini review posts like this one! This is PART 2 of this series. Enjoy 🙂

DISCLAIMER:I received free copies of both of these books in return for an honest review. All opinions are honest and my own.

The Adventures of Wilhelm: A Rat’s Tale by Maria Ritter

Young Wilhelm leaves home and travels the world. He not only discovers the value of different cultures and the importance of family and friendship, but he also overcomes obstacles with courage and cleverness. He returns home with deep respect for all creatures on this earth and a new sense of rat identity and purpose. (Goodreads.)

While I do often enjoy middle grade books, I tend to prefer middle grade books which are written in a less… simplistic fashion. By simplistic I do not mean that the writing in this book was bad because it certainly wasn’t, but the story was very obviously trying to communicate lessons through the story. And it did so by blatantly having the characters teach other characters the lessons which the author wants the reader to take from the book. This, to me, doesn’t feel like middle grade writing for 9-12 year olds, but more like older children’s fiction (5-8 years range).

I feel like books have the impact they do on people because they allow people to learn lessons more “naturally” by experiencing the emotions the book portrays. Anyone can tell you something, but only by really experiencing and understanding it can you fully believe it, which is where this story fell short.

Not only did it not have the impact it should, but the writing style left me feeling a little bit irritated and a lot like I was being either patronised or reading allowed to a younger sibling or child I was babysitting… except I was reading to myself during my lunch break at work.

That being said, if the writing style doesn’t bother you, the premise of the book is actually quite good and very thought-provoking. Although the writing style put me off enough that I could not finish the book, the actual plot of the book was fascinating and made me have some deep philosophical conversations with myself.

Windsworn by Derek Alan Siddoway

When Eva discovers a young thief hiding in her woodshed with a stolen gryphon egg, the shy, timid girl is forced to leave everything she’s ever known to become Windsworn — elite warriors who ride fierce gryphons into battle… (Goodreads.)”

Windsworn was comfortable to read. It was a good, familiar fantasy story, with some interesting world features, but generally fairly typical and familiar topics. This isn’t a bad thing, it just means the world wasn’t amazing but the book did use the familiar concepts well. It was fun and easy to read, perfect if you just want to relax for a little bit!

This means I liked the book but it wasn’t anything particularly special! Check out my rating policy for more details.

Hello everyone! If you read my “Mini Reviews Vol. 1” post a couple of weeks back, you’ll have seen me review the book A Dance With Demons by Sir Richard Alexander. Today I’m bringing you an interview straight from the author, so I hope you enjoy!

INTRODUCE YOURSELF

I’m Alexander, from the wi town of Grantsville, Utah. As for what I do, I’m a writer and a life coach.

If you had to explain who you are to someone in one sentence, what would you say?

I’m the whole pie, not just a slice, because though I am definitely a fantasy buff, I enjoy far more than just reading and writing.

What/who is your hero?

Samwise Gamgee (Sam Wise the Brave). I really look up to him, because he is so loyal, is so good, even when treated poorly. He really has many traits that I really like, but his loyalty is definitely something that sticks out to me. I want to be a friend like that. I want to be a friend a friend would want to have. A true friend.

How did you become an author?

It’s interesting that I became an author because I didn’t even learn to read until I was about 8 and didn’t enjoy reading until I was around 12. Things changed when I came across a fantasy book. When I came across the fantasy genre, I was hooked and from there on out, I always wanted to be an author. It was my dream and the only career I wanted, that hasn’t changed since I was a young boy.

Being able to create my own world is such an exciting thing! I’m in charge of an entire world! Even if no one ever read my work, I would still write.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

The advice could be applied to anything. It is a secret that was imparted to me some time ago. This secret is a trait that all successful people, writer or otherwise, share in this world. It’s not the most common trait like some you hear about, but it is shared by literally ever single success. When you hear it, you might want to pass it off, but it is very powerful, so don’t. The advice I was given, was: “Start, just start…” it is so obvious and so simply, but there is not one single successful man, or woman in this world that is not a starter. So, if you are dwelling on something and trying to plan everything out before the fact, you may never end up getting it done. I simply would give the same advice to anyone who has dreams in writing, or anything else. “Just start.”

If you had to summarise your book A Dance with Demons in three words, what would they be?

Good against Evil, or, A Heroic tale.

What is one thing you learned whilst writing this book?

I realized that perfectionism will stop you from completing anything if you let it. there were so many times that I was tempted to just go back and change things constantly and was tempted to think that it would never be good enough. But I realized that if I kept feeling like it had to be literally perfect, before I finished and published the book, then it would still be sitting on my computer. So to summarize, you are always going to feel that you want it to be perfect, but I realized I couldn’t let that hold me back.

Why or how did you decide to write this book?

I have been writing since I was about 12 and always wanted to write a book. I looked at the things I had written and never felt like any of it was good enough. I really did want to be published though, it was one of my life dreams after all. Unfortunately that is exactly what if felt like, just a dream.

After some time, I came across some self-help material and my idea of dreams being only things to wish for, was shattered. The self-improvement realm taught me that dreams shouldn’t just be dreams, but that you can make them a reality. When I came to this new way of thinking, I decided that I was going to write something that was going to mean something, a book of good against evil. So I began writing, and made the choice before I even put the first word down that this book was going to be the one I published, even if it was crap. I really decided to write this book, simply because I found out that dreams didn’t just have to be dreams and that gave me the motivation to move forward.

If people take one thing away from your book, what would you hope it would be?

That anyone can write a book. If someone like me, who couldn’t read until 8 and didn’t like it thereafter until I was 12, could write a book, then there is no reason anyone can’t.

Who would you recommend your book to and who would you caution against it (e.g. trigger warnings)?

Anyone who likes an adventure of good against evil, an adventure packed with action, underworld creatures, and characters that push forward despite all of the hardship. I would caution people against it that really don’t enjoy action packed stories and young children, because there are some scary creatures in this book. Over all however, I would recommend it to most people though, because I have had people in their 60s read it and enjoy it, as well as people in their teens.

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Hi! I'm Keira and I'm the author here at Headphones and Hyperboles. It's nice to meet you :) I like to read and listen to music (obviously), but I also really like sleeping, eating chocolate and going for picnics with friends.